Performance Evaluation and Optimization of B.A.T.M.A.N. V Routing for Aerial and Ground-based Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

The provision of reliable and efficient end-to-end communication within ground- and air-based mobile mesh networks is a major challenge for routing protocols due to the mobility-related dynamics of the channel properties and the resulting mesh network topology. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the novel Better Approach To Mobile Adhoc Networking (B.A.T.M.A.N.) V routing protocol for vehicular mesh networks and propose a mobility-predictive extension that explicitly addresses highly dynamic communication networks. In order to enable large-scale simulative analysis, we present an open source simulation model, which is validated by field experiments. Within a comprehensive evaluation campaign in Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) scenarios, it is shown that the predictive B.A.T.M.A.N. V-based approach is significantly better suited for maintaining reliable connectivity within highly mobile mesh networks than established routing protocols.